Reality Is
by corneroffandom
Summary: The truth behind the words of Zack's statement about the car accident Money in the Bank weekend.


Zack rubs at his neck as he squints through his sunglasses, talking into a cell phone to one of the maintainers- pretty much the instant he had been cleared by on-hand EMTs, the WWE agent taking care of everything to do with this ComiCon weekend had appeared, holding his phone out to him. "They want to talk to you, get a statement on what happened here," he'd told him. "Keep it simple."

The Long Island native grimaces, gaining a headache as he continues talking, relieved that they're almost done. "...Ziggler and I don't like each other so it was kind of a quiet, tense ride when..." Wrapping his story up, he turns towards the wreck as police and other emergency workers move as quickly as they can to get traffic flowing once more on the ramp.

"Alright, Zack," the agent says once he finishes, smoothly taking the phone from him. "Thanks. Go sit, catch your breath for a minute. We're getting another car out here for you guys, it'll be a little bit though."

He nods, feeling as the last bit of the adrenaline from the crash fades away. He's barely balancing on wobbly legs as he wanders over to the side of the road and sinks down, relieved to feel the cool blades of grass brushing against his arms, have a minute to just decompress. He can see the back of the limo from here and, although it doesn't _look_ that bad from the outside, it had been much different inside. Fast and chaotic and ten kinds of _What the hell was _that?

Despite what he had said in the interview, the ride itself hadn't been that quiet, the three of them spending the trip making fun of some of the various bad, eye-melting cosplay they'd seen the last couple of days. Justin had been in mid-sentence about some girl dressed in possibly the most horrible looking anime get up he'd ever seen when they'd heard squeeching tires, felt a powerful lurch and a hard thud directly behind where Justin and Dolph had been sitting on the back bench. Zack had been sitting facing one of the tinted side windows on the bench across from them, his face turned towards them as they'd talked. None of them had seatbelts on. The force of it had somehow sent Zack sideways, causing him to smack his neck and the back of his head against the edge of the car door. When he blinked, he found Dolph and Justin both sprawled on the floor between the two benches, looking disoriented and about as shook up as he felt.

He had just slipped off of the bench, ignoring the throbbing pain in his neck as he'd tried to get a good look at his travel companions in the gloom from the tinted windows. "Are you guys ok?" Vision gets a bit easier as the door is opened, the spitting angry driver coming to check on them before returning to yelling at the car behind them.

From there, EMTs and police had come quickly and checked them out, took reports, and... Zack sighs, rubbing his neck gingerly. _What a mess._

"This is _not_ how I envisioned my ComiCon trip ending," Dolph says blandly, startling him out of his thoughts as he drops down next to him in the grass.

Zack's lips twitch as he looks over. "None of us did, bro." They sit quietly for a little bit, watching as the police finally finish questioning people who'd witnessed the accident and opening traffic back up. "Guess we'll be getting out of here soon."

"Thank God," Dolph mumbles. "Much longer and I'd miss my flight." He has media scheduled early in the morning for Money in the Bank, and the flight taking him to Vegas leaves in a little over three hours.

"Are the EMTs still checking out Justin?"

"Yeah, they want to make sure his knee is all that's wrong." They had taken their time with all of them, Zack getting looked at first because of how sore his neck had been. Thankfully, they'd ruled out anything serious, told him to take it easy for a few days and go to the ER if anything at all seemed off.

Zack lays back, sighing as his neck is soothed further by the cool ground. "So you'll be good for Money in the Bank."

"Of course I will, as if a little car accident is going to stop me from winning that briefcase and becoming World Champion." He settles against the ground too, staring up at the blue sky through his sunglasses. "Were you talking to ?"

"Yeah."

Tilting his head, he examines Zack with a frown. "Why didn't they talk with me? Even Justin was on the phone with them before I came over here."

Zack shrugs, smirking. "Maybe they were afraid they wouldn't catch everything you'd say." The Show-Off is well known- and a dreaded interview subject- just because of how fast he talks, and the fact that if anything he says is misunderstood or misquoted, Vickie Guerrero is right there, threatening to have the person who makes the gaffe suspended or, when she's really annoyed, out and out fired.

"Oh, haha," he mumbles mockingly, closing his eyes. When he looks around again, Zack is once more rubbing his neck, cringing slightly. He grows somber, peering over at him until Zack notices, raising an eyebrow curiously. "Just thinking," he says after a few moments. "This could've been a lot worse, you know." He sits up and sighs, looking over at where the cars have been moved to the side of the road, allowing for traffic. "We were lucky."

"Yeah we were," Ryder nods, following his gaze. They sit for a few minutes in quiet thought until finally the other car arrives and they get settled in the backseat, waiting for Justin, who is just now finishing up with the EMTs.

"What'd they say?" Dolph asks the ring announcer as he settles in across from them, looking about as sore and rough as they feel.

"I'll be fine, just a little scratched up. How about you two?"

"Sore, but ok," the rivals say together, before making faces at each other until they crack up laughing, the tension in the car finally dissipating as they leave the site of the accident behind, the new car turning towards the airport for Dolph to make his flight. It'll then bring Justin and Zack back to their hotel for another day at ComiCon before they have to head to Vegas for the pay per view as well.

Dolph sighs, collecting his things before turning to his companions. "Well, try not to get into anymore trouble while I'm not around."

"Oh please," Zack responds with a smirk. "We got into enough of it while you _were_ around." He grins as Dolph glowers at him but shrugs one shoulder up, undisturbed in the slightest. "But seriously, bro, take it easy. Leave the rest of the abuse you're going to take to Sunday."

"Zack, you have such a way with words," Justin says with a laugh. "Safe travels, Dolph."

"Thank you, _Justin,_" he says with a pointed look towards Zack, before getting out of the car. He leans back in briefly before slamming the door shut. "See you Sunday, wanna-be." As he walks off, he can hear Zack laugh through the opened car window, shaking his head with a wince at the "WOO WOO WOO YOU KNOW IT" that causes everyone scattered around the airport entrance to look around in confusion. "Ugh," he sighs, relieved he can hide his discomfort behind his sunglasses.

It's far from a welcome shared experience, but God knows the three will ever forget _this_ weekend.


End file.
